


Swan Lake

by ArgentSleeper



Series: Merlin Ships Fest [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:18:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1952961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentSleeper/pseuds/ArgentSleeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mithian didn't understand why the strange young man came to the beach every day with no intention to go in the water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swan Lake

**Author's Note:**

> From the day 5 prompt at Merlin Ships Fest: Modern AU
> 
> This literally came because I wanted a paddle boats fic. No other reason.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three weeks had passed and there were three weeks to go in Mithian's summer holiday.  She was going to miss the beach when she had to leave, back to the congestion of the city.  There was an odd peace here.  Although that was perhaps because this particular beach was private, access open only to her and her family.

Or at least it was supposed to be.

Mithian didn't understand why the strange young man came to the beach every day with no intention to go in the water.  Not that she had turned into a mind reader by any stretch of the imagination, but jeans and a hoodie had never been her preferred beachwear.  She had first noticed him on her fourth day, when she forgot her umbrella and a desperate need for shade drove her to stray towards the trees rather than the shoreline.  Laying back on her towel, she looked up into the trees and into the eyes of the boy hiding in the tree.

Shock had her bolting upright and him falling forwards off his thin branch.  Mithian had run towards him before common sense could tell her to run away.

"Are you alright?"

He had scrambled to his feet, somehow avoiding catching her eye and staring at her at the same time.  "Fine.  I'm fine."

"What do you think you're doing here?"  No matter how hard she had tried, it had come out much more curious than accusing.

He had just smiled crookedly.  "I'm waiting."

He would never tell her what he was waiting for, though he did eventually give her his name- Merlin.  After that there was no more hiding in trees, Merlin would instead join her on the large blanket Mithian began to bring and chat or sit awkwardly on a boulder by the shore and watch her swim.  Merlin was filled with stories, grand tales of historical fiction, and she loved to listen to them all.

But in all the stories, Mithian never learned any more about the boy beyond his name.  The few times she tried to gently pry even about the tiniest thing he would clam up and turn the question back on her.  Most aggravatingly, he even seemed to know things, private things, about her before she mentioned them, but refused to explain how. After three weeks of this, however, her curiosity was about to explode.

"Merlin..." she began carefully, "haven't you ever gotten tired of just _waiting_?"

He shrugged, but it wasn't enough to cover up the look of sadness that flashed across his face.  "What else is there to do?"

"Maybe you could... go look?  For whatever or," she blushed but made herself continue on, " _whoever_ it is that's supposed to be coming?"

"It's a who."

"Oh."  Mithian ducked her head, doing her best to hide her disappointment.

"An old friend.  He had to leave but... he promised he'd come back."  The sadness shadowed his eyes again, lingering a bit longer this time.  "He _promised,_ " he repeated softly, almost to himself.

The look, combined with Merlin’s evasiveness over the weeks, helped Mithian draw a conclusion: Merlin’s friend had died. If that was the case, she should do her best to help him to let go and move on. But something made her want to shield Merlin from such a reality. “Maybe he’s having trouble. I return to my first suggestion. We should go find him.”

“Wait, we?”

Mithian drew herself to her feet, brushing the sand from her legs. She reached out a hand to him. “Yes, we. Come on.”

Merlin accepted her hand up and followed her warily. He didn’t let go. “Where are we going?”

“He’s out there, right? On the water?”

Merlin smirked. “Yeah, we’ll go with that preposition.”

“Then to find him, we’ll have to take a boat.”

At that Merlin came to a halt, jolting her to stop too. “Um, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

Yes, a friend dead at sea, probably in a boating accident. Her plan was looking better all the time. Mithian squeezed his hand and smiled gently. “It’ll be okay, Merlin. I promise. It’s not a real boat, anyway.” She tugged him along again and he reluctantly followed.

“What, is this some kind of raft then? Did you tie giant turtle shells together with strands of your hair?”

“Not quite,” she giggled. They rounded a corner. “Here!”

The paddle boat swans were her father’s pride and joy, a gift to her mother on their anniversary. Mithian’s first trip off dry land had been with him in one of these boats. The waves were just mild enough the paddles could cut through easily, and if she was too tired at the end, they were just strong enough to lap her back to shore.

“You’re joking, right?”

“No! It’ll be fun, I promise!”

“Fun. Right.” But he helped push the boat into the water and got in beside her.

The first few minutes were just frantic churning of their feet as they worked to get enough momentum to move forward. Mithian took the steering handle, setting them a slanted course out onto the open water. Once they were comfortably drifting, the shoreline still well within sight, Mithian risked a glance at Merlin’s face. He didn’t look frightened, like she’d first expected when he balked at the idea of boating. Instead he just looked… _lost._

“Merlin? Are you alright?”

He jumped a bit, then gave a small smile. “I’ve watched a lot of people go leave in boats and never come back.”

Mithian reached over and took his hand again. “Well, look at it this way. If this boat doesn’t come back, at least this time we’ll be gone together.”

“You didn’t last time.”

Mithian blinked. “What do you mean, last time?”

“Nothing. I mean, last summer. You left and didn’t come back.”

“I was gone to school, silly!” she laughed out. “Sadly uni schedules don’t meld well with beach trips.”

“Arthur was supposed to come back, too, though,” Merlin was gone again, she could see it, off to wherever he’d been before. “The others… I accepted that they were gone, but Arthur… He’ll be back. I know he will.”

“What if he doesn’t?” It hurt her to see the question hurt him, but it had to be asked. He couldn’t wait forever. If he’d been at her beach last summer, who knew how many before that, how many days in-between?

“Then…” his face went through a myriad of emotions, and Mithian wished she knew what was going through his mind. “Then I guess I accept that maybe destiny isn’t what I think it is.”

“Or maybe…maybe it’s time to make your own destiny.”

“Can this destiny include you?”

“Oh. I just meant you could keep the swa-”

Merlin leaned over and claimed her smiling lips. And as they floated back to shore, he told her the story of a servant who fell for a princess and lost her to the sea.


End file.
